Did not respond to the poll because I found no category which describes my habits. The most accurate answer would be "I smoke and don't intend to quit," but since the category seemed to be cigarettes, and the verb "smoke" implies a habitual action, this would give the wrong impression. I smoke occas...

Hillstrom proceeds from the assumption that realizing no-self and impermanence represent pathologic/psychotic states: in other words, her underlying assumption for her ill-colored representation of our meditative experiences is that the realizations or wrong. Or to put it simply, Hillstrom believes ...

Wah, I am speechless. Had no idea this had occurred. Silly that I happened to visit a forum I'd not been on in months to hear this news. I met James a few times. He was an extremely warm and genuine person, and he loved the Dhamma. Doubtless he has a few positive rebirths in store. Best wishes to Ja...

With all respect, Bhante, While I agree with the general principle that Sangha issues should be, as you say, "discussed and resolved" within the Sangha, it is troubling when this is done in a way contrary to Vinaya principles, or cotnrary to commonsense principles. Ajahn Sujato rightly points out ma...

After spending the last several hours reading about this controversy (which until yesterday I did not even know was raging so heavily), I can only state that I agree with the action taken by Ven. Brahmavamso and co. Ajahn Sujato's blog is the best resource, because in it he references all the applic...

Hey all, Sorry I am new to this story...what is the reason for this, or the stated reason? Is there a link to a statement by WPP that I can read for more background on this? I find Ajahn Brahm to be a great teacher and his teachings have been a great help to me, I hope that this will not affect his ...

Ajaan Niran, a monk at my temple, is preparing to leave and return to Thailand in a few days. His English is very poor. A conversation I had with him: ME: Ajaan, are you happy to be going back to Thailand? NIRAN: I...happy...and...not happy. ME: What do you mean? NIRAN: I happy and not happy, becaus...

Any Anchorage-area Buddhists or their non-Buddhist, or Buddhist-curious friends are welcomed to attend a sort of open house tonight at Wat Alaska. 2309 D St, by the intersection of Fireweed and C st (behind O'Reilley's Pub).

Greetings Ed, Yes, it's something soft and warm I'm after. Something targeted at those with low self-esteem who would benefit from "awakening to the sacred" to steal a term off Lama Surya Das. Metta, Retro. :) "Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung" by Ajahn Brahm is pretty tender stuff, though some o...

On point 2. What I mean is that arahant is used to refer to those who have completed the noble eightfold path, it is also used for those who are fully enlightened ( tathagata ). It is also used for those on the higher tenfold path which leads to full enlightenment. So this conceals the two highest ...

Where do the Four Noble Truths fit in there? As I tried to make clear, a general Buddhism overview is not my purpose--she will already have covered 4NT, and while they are important, I prefer to spend my limited time discussing what I am meant to discuss (i.e. the Theravada) rather than reviewing b...